In less than 3 years, coach Deion Sanders has had an effect on the Jackson State football program that makes it feel like he’s been there much longer.
His achievements at JSU haveactually been larger than simply football. He’s thrust the school that produced Walter Payton, Lem Barney, Robert Brazile, and Jackie Slater back into the nationwide spotlight. And he’s changed the discussion around HBCU sports in brief order.
Jackson State had a stretch from 2014 till Sanders’ arrival in 2020 when it didn’t have any winning seasons.
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Now, following a program-record 11-win season and a string of other achievements that led to Sanders being called FCS coach of the Year, the possibility of Jackson State endingupbeing the veryfirst HBCU to play at the FBS level doesn’t appear so improbable.
None of this surprises James Meredith, the civil rights icon who incorporated Ole Miss after start his college profession at Jackson State. He wentto with Sanders quickly after his arrival in Jackson, and informed the Pro Football Hall of Fame member simply how impactful he might be.
“I informed him it was the most crucial thing consideringthat James Meredith went from Jackson State to Ole Miss,” stated Meredith.
Jackson State had neverever been to the Celebration Bowl, the de facto HBCU nationwide champion videogame. Sanders led the Tigers there while catching the program’s veryfirst SWAC title because 2007 and drawing an FCS-record 42,293 average house participation along the method.
Jackson State had neverever landed a first-class hire priorto Sanders took over. Last December, the country’s No. 1 general possibility in luxury cornerback Travis Hunter chosen the Tigers.
No HBCU professionalathlete or coach had beautified the cover of Sports Illustrated consideringthat Steve McNair in1994 Sanders, his child quarterback Shedeur Sanders, and Hunter altered that in June.
Landing hires like Hunter is especially impactful, Meredith stated, since one of the greatest problems around education in the Black neighborhood is the choice that numerous hires face when selecting a college.
Should one participatein a primarily white school, such as Ole Miss, which has more resources and muchbetter centers, and offer with the problems that come with being a racial minority there? Or is that trainee muchbetter off goingto an HBCU like Jackson State, which has a smallersized budgetplan however can deal Black trainees the liberty to establish within an environment where they aren’t a minority?
Meredith picked Ole Miss since he committed h